Societies Registration Act, 1860
A central-law baseline for registration and legal incidents of literary, scientific and charitable societies, presented with an explicit State/UT applicability gate because amendments, adapted texts and replacement statutes materially vary by jurisdiction.
Jurisdiction first. India Code itself records extensive State/UT amendments and replacement/repeal history. Forms, fees, governance rules and dissolution requirements are therefore not safely answered from the central 1860 wording alone.
End-to-end law map
State/UT applicability gate→Central/State society provision→Registrar rules/forms→Governance/member evidence→Change/dissolution/litigation
Practical guides
- Society registration workflow
- Annual governance and filing workflow
- Object change and dissolution workflow
- Society property and litigation map
- State/UT applicability gate
Act sections
- Section 1 — Societies formed by memorandum of association and registration
- Section 2 — Memorandum of association
- Section 3 — Registration and fees
- Section 4 — Annual list of managing body to be filed
- Section 5 — Property of society how vested
- Section 6 — Suits by and against societies
- Section 7 — Suits not to abate
- Section 8 — Enforcement of judgment against society
- Section 9 — Recovery of penalty accruing under bye-law
- Section 10 — Members liable to be sued as strangers; recovery by successful defendant of costs adjudged
- Section 11 — Members guilty of offences punishable as strangers
- Section 12 — Societies enabled to alter, extend or abridge their purposes
- Section 13 — Provision for dissolution of societies and adjustment of their affairs
- Section 14 — Upon a dissolution no member to receive profit
- Section 15 — Member defined; disqualified members
- Section 16 — Governing body defined
- Section 17 — Registration of societies formed before Act
- Section 18 — Such societies to file memorandum, etc., with Registrar of Joint-stock Companies
- Section 19 — Inspection of documents; certified copies
- Section 20 — To what societies Act applies
Rules, regulations, directions and connected instruments
Primary official sources
Disclaimer: This material is for education, research and compliance orientation. It is not legal, regulatory, investment, tax or professional advice. Apply the official law and instruments in force on the relevant date to the actual facts and obtain professional advice where required.